An Irish Kid Lost in New York
by Puterboy1
Summary: Historical Fiction AU. Adapted from An American Tail and made to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the sinking of the SS La Bourgogne.
1. Chapter 1

Before there was radio and television, there were two ways of telling stories: by reading books or just simply just telling them in person. But this is a story that is mostly familiar…with its difference in characters and nature.

Enniscorthy, in County Wexford, Ireland, circa mid-June 1898, was the home of the McCallister family. In their home, which was big enough to accommodate fifteen people, a festival of light and joy was concurring: the St. John's Eve Bonfire Festival. Like most of the other people in their town, the McCallisters had average needs, but the family itself was filled with love and warmth, complacent with the simple life they had led. Being together as a family was always the most important thing to them. Although they worked hard for honest wages, Kate and Peter, along with Peter's brother Frank and his wife Leslie always managed to make the holidays seem very special to their children.

There were eleven children in the McCallister household: Heather, Tracy, Rod, Sondra, Megan, Linnie, Jeff, Buzz, Rod, Fuller and Kevin, who was the second youngest in the family ahead of Fuller, for Kevin was only eight years old. Heather, on the other hand, was the eldest daughter of Peter and Frank's younger brother Rob and his wife Georgette, who stayed behind to help her aunts and uncles with earning money while the rest of her family went to America in search of gold, but ended up living in the great city of New York after their luck had been pushed too far.

During the festival, Kevin and Fuller lit their candles and recited their prayers. All of the McCallister children loved the holidays and they were looking forward to Christmas which was about six months from now. After they said their prayers, the family settled down to dinner, with bread, olives, cheese and pepperoni (pizza wasn't common back then) and when the dishes had been washed away, Peter played Irish tunes on his violin, while Frank played the trumpet. They lived for the happiness of their wives and children, as all husbands should be. The girls and boys danced until the whole room was spinning around them.

When Brooke and Fuller got tired from all that dancing, Aunt Leslie put them to bed. She still heard the instruments from their room when she called back.

"Frank! Enough already, they are never going to get to sleep."

Almost immediately, Peter and Frank put their instruments down after playing a special tune written for Kevin titled "Somewhere in my Memory" when the boy himself asked.

"What about bonfire presents?"

"What is this?" asked Frank. "Chanukah?"

"For you," said Peter. "Every night is Chanukah and Christmas or whatever holiday comes where you get presents."

When the room had stopped lurching for them, Buzz, Megan, Rod and the others sat down on the floor and waited to receive gifts. Peter pulled a red scarf from behind his back and presented it to Linnie, the scarf was brand new as it had appeared to have been bought from a flea market.

"For you, Linnie."

Linnie placed the headscarf on, admiring it.

"Oh, Dad, it's just like Megan's! Thank you!"

Megan just blushed, looking at the identical headscarf she had gotten last Christmas.

"You have only one parent?" asked Kate, coming in with Aunt Leslie.

"Thank you, Mom," said Linnie, going up to hug her.

After the others got their gifts—Buzz's being a toy spider made of silk—it was Kevin's turn. Peter presented him with a black and red hunting hat.

"For you, Kevin: a new hat. But it's not just any hat, it belonged to me, your grandfather and your great-grandfather. In fact this hat's been in the family for three generations…now it belongs to you."

Kevin ran to admire himself in the mirror, he felt very proud and very important. Then he looked back at his relatives.

"You think this will fit properly?"

"You'll grow into it when you're a man," Kate reassured him.

"And now, it is story time," said Peter, looking at his children, nieces and nephews. He felt like a rich man, despite his average wages.

Frank and Peter sat in their chairs and the children gathered around them with the women listening close by. Megan and Linnie wanted to hear about the tale of Rapunzel, Kevin and Fuller wanted to hear Sleeping Beauty, Brooke and Sondra wanted to hear about The Girl Who Got the Better of the Gentleman and Rod and Jeff to hear about Billy and the Tiny Man in the Three Cornered Hat. Heather was willing to tell The Story of Tuan mac Cairill and Buzz wanted to tell scary stories about giant tarantulas who attacked cities, but Peter and Frank seemed to take his story and turn it into their own.

"Did I ever tell you about the Giant Spider-Bird of Ballybowhill?"

"No," the children shook their heads.

"Well," Perter went on. "He was as tall as a tree and his wings were a whole mile long."

The children found this hard to believe.

"Really?" they asked.

Uncle Frank chuckled.

"I'll bet he was so big, he frightened all the dark-hearted thieves."

"Shhh!" interrupted Aunt Leslie. "Don't talk about them! Talk about something else like…where Rob and Georgette are?"

"You mean America?" Heather jumped up.

"Another fairy tale," said Kate. "I don't think it's as good as they say it is."

"Do you want to hear about America?" asked Peter.

The children nodded their heads.

"Well, in America, there is opportunity...hidden passageways in every wall, bread on every street, you can say anything you want…and this I know for a fact."

He whispered.

"In America, there are no…bandits."

"Quiet!" Kate whispered back. "Do you want to start an uprising?"

"How can they on a time like this?" asked Peter, annoyed.

Suddenly, outside the window, there were shouts of screams and demands. The sounds of horses clattered through the streets, which made wary locals tremble with fear.

"The bandits! The bandits!"

In those days, criminals were reckless and rough, destroying everything in their path before the police could intervene, plundering whatever houses they could find. In a similar kind of way, Irish nationalists, known as rebels, would race through the villages, burning and demolishing houses of those family who were not fit to see the land in their eyes. Some turned over to them, while others were killed without mercy.

From upstairs, the noise awake Brooke and Fuller. He was so scared that he nearly pissed all over the bed. Downstairs, from the safety of their home, Kate turned to Peter, saying.

"Now do you see what I mean?"

None of the McCallisters dare to move outside, valuing their own lives above everyone else's, but Kevin was brave enough to grab Uncle Frank's musket from above the fireplace and rushed outside.

"Don't worry everyone!" he shouted fearlessly. "I'll scare them off!"

"KEVIN!" was Kate's shout as he ran out the door.

"Get back with my musket, you little jerk!"

That was the last thing Kevin heard from Uncle Frank before he rushed into the street and fired two warning shots into the air, shouting.

"Go away, rebels! Go away!"

Fortunately for him, the police arrived just in time to prevent any more pilferage from the bandits and he fell to the ground after narrowly avoiding a brown stallion carrying an officer coming his way.

Neither of the McCallisters noticed until too late that the roof of their home caught fire from one of the rebels when they all rushed out to find Kevin.

"Are you all right?" Kate asked him when she found him lying on the ground, still clutching the musket.

Kevin smiled weakly.

"Yes, Mom."

Sighing with relief, Kate put her hands on her hips and scolded him.

"There are fifteen people in our house and you're the only one who has to make a fool of himself by running into the arms of danger."

"Speaking of our house…" said Sondra, turning back in fear.

"Our home!" sobbed Rod. "We're homeless!"

Sure enough, without the fire brigade to prevent its destruction, their house had burned to the ground and by the next morning, the village had been charred from smoke and many buildings lay ruined. The McCallisters stood together in silence, looking at the blacked remains of their world. At their feet lay the few possessions they had been able to drag from the flames before it had been completely destroyed.

"In America," Peter said with a strong voice. "We will be safe."

"Does this mean we have to move?" asked Kevin.

Peter smiled at his son. A new life in America with their extended family members already living there, was just around the corner.


	2. Chapter 2

In 1898, thousands of people from all over Europe who had the hardship of poverty and the terror of the continuing vicious attacks by marauding bandits, thieves and burglars (some of them being anti-Semitic Cossacks) left their homes and began the long, difficult journey to find a new and better world in America. People came from Russia, from Poland, from Greece, Italy, Romania, Ireland, Germany, France, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

After a week of trudging through fields and along dusty roads on foot, Peter McCallister and his family arrived in the port city of Queenstown, Ireland, where their ship, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner, _La Bourgogne,_ would take them to America the next day. For this, they had to spend the night in a hotel; a cheap hotel where the clocks were one hour behind schedule. Kevin was the last in his family to stay awake until his eyes grew tired, he slept soundly that night and looked forward to a new life in the new world…

But the next morning, however…

"PETER! WE SLEPT IN!"

Realizing that they were about a half-hour late, Kate and Peter rushed to the rooms and woke everyone up. The hallway was alive with activity, with family members scrambling to get their things ready. After gathering up their meager belongings, they ran to the White Star Line tender, ironically named _America_ , and inched their way up the gangplank to board the ship, with Kate and Aunt Leslie leading the way.

Kevin was terribly excited and full of questions as he climbed up the gangplank.

"Look, Dad, is that the ocean. Uncle Frank, are those birds seagulls, and what is that smoke coming out of the ship?"

With each question Keven asked, his father, uncle, siblings and cousins got more and more agitated.

"Keep walking!" Buzz yelled from behind.

"I just wanted to know," Kevin apologized in a sorry voice.

"You had better behave on this voyage, you little sour puss!" scolded Uncle Frank. "Because this is the last time your father and I are taking you to America."

Finally, after what had seemed like an endless wait for Kevin, the whistle blew and _La Bourgogne_ , loaded with 506 passengers and 220 crewmembers, left Cobh Harbor and steamed down St. George's Channel into the North Atlantic Ocean.

In third class, seven hours later, the McCallister's were having their first dinner aboard. Prior, Peter and Uncle Frank had been entertaining the other passengers with Kevin's special tune, making them feel less afraid of the great adventure ahead. But Uncle Frank was more interested in finding spare change…among them a bracelet that had been dropped by a first class woman.

"The diamonds in the thing are real," he told Aunt Leslie at the table. "Put it in your purse."

"Frank! I can't do that!" she whispered. "It belongs to someone else!"

"Is there a problem?"

A steward came up to them before a serious argument could commence.

"As a matter of fact, there is," said Aunt Leslie truthfully. "Could you see that this gets sent to the purser's office?"

She handed the steward the bracelet and he left in a hurry. On the other side of the table, Kate asked Peter out of boredom.

"Don't you feel like a heel travelling in steerage with all the really fun people up in saloon?"

"No, we're absolutely fine here," Peter assured her. "The only time I ever travelled by boat as a kid was on a ferry, but it wasn't to America. We use to go over to Aunt Laura and Uncle Arthur's house in Erbusaig for the winter holidays. Once we get there, the kids will have the best time of their lives."

But their first ever sea voyage was not what one would call "the best time of their lives" to the children. Kevin and the boys ate their meals slowly, Fuller was drinking pints of gin and Megan, Brooke and Linnie peered through the dinning room at the other families, all starting out on this momentous journey. Then Kevin asked.

"Are we any closer to America?"

"Kevin, we just left,' Peter told him incuriously. "We'll be there soon."

"How soon?"

"Soon," squeaked Aunt Leslie. "I give it about a whole week from now."

Heather, staring out into the night from the porthole, sighed.

"Maybe we should have stayed in Ireland."

"Do you want to see your mother and father again?" asked Uncle Frank meaningfully.

"Well, yes, I do, but I just have second thoughts."

Kate rested her hands upon her niece's and said in a reassuring voice.

"Not to worry. As long as we are together. We will be fine."

Kevin was not worried at all on the second day of the voyage, it was filled with new experiences, sensations, sights, smells and emotions. He was beginning to explore every inch of the third class cabins when he came upon a barrel of pickled herring on the top deck just outside the entrance.

"What are they?" Kevin asked his approaching father.

"Herring, son. A kind of fish," explained Peter. "And in the ocean there are all kinds of fish, because these fish are dead. There tiny fish, not so tiny ones, even fish that are as big as this ship."

"Can we look for some?" asked Kevin.

"Maybe later," Peter answered. "It's lunchtime."

Back in the dining room, they sat down at the table where the other McCallisters where having some of that pickled herring from the barrels.

"So you have returned," Jeff said once Kevin sat down next to him. "This fish was giving me a disease."

"I actually saw some fish in a barrel earlier."

The rest of the family turned to face Kevin for a short while, then resumed eating before looking down at their plates.

"I think I've lost my appetite," said Tracy, getting up from the table and walking over to the WC.

"Fish, huh?" Kate said. "I just hope you didn't see any bandits."

"There are not bandits anywhere but back home in Ireland."

Peter's words soothed his family and the rest of the other passengers, some having committed petty crimes themselves, but as the voyage dragged on with each day blending into the next, _La Bourgogne_ had been heading into heavy weather. The third day of the voyage bought rain that pelted into the ship with furious winds blowing into the fourth day. By the fifth day, she was tossed about on rogue waves like a tiny cork. Inside her hull, first, second and third-class passengers were seasick from the rolling and lurching, but Kevin didn't mind, he was having too much fun exploring, even ending up in the men's washroom during a tumble while some of them were taking showers. He was shooed away for being nosy.

On the morning of July 4th, the holiday in which the Americans celebrated the Declaration of Independence, Aunt Leslie was yawning miserably at the dense fog outside the portholes as she and her family were eating breakfast in the dining saloon.

"Oh, it's the end of the world for me."

"If it makes you feel any better," Uncle Frank told her. "I think this voyage is even worse."

Kate was looking around the table for Kevin.

"Where has he gone off to now?"

Kevin was sliding under the table from the ship pitching in small waves.

"Kevin! Sit with us!" his siblings and cousins called.

But Kevin had already finished his breakfast of eggs and toast and was sliding from one of the ship to the other towards the third-class entrance.

With a thump, _La Bourgogne_ had crashed into the British iron three-master _Cromartyshire_ on her starboard side, having travelled at a reckless speed. When Kevin got to his feet after being thrown to the floor, he scampered up the stairs to the boat deck to see what was going on. Just as Peter, Kate and the rest of the McCallisters arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Kevin reached the top and walked out into the outer deck to receive a lifejacket from a nearby crewmember. The boat deck seemed alive with sailors rushing for the lifeboats, followed by a mob of passengers from all classes. Fuller, now panicking for his parents in the fog, was flapping his arms wildly up and down.

"Kevin!" shouted Peter in a panic. "Get in the boat with us!"

"I'm coming, Dad!" yelled Kevin.

But the ship was beginning to take a sharp list and he was beginning to slide. Seasick as they were from the ship turning over, Kate and Peter left the children with Aunt Leslie and Uncle Frank in their lifeboat and raced up the tilting ship to retrieve Kevin. Before their horrified eyes, they watched as Kevin clung onto the railing, trying not to let go.

"Help! Mom! Dad! Help me!"

"Kevin, take our hands! Grab our hands!" Kate screamed.

She and Peter reached and reached, but the ship was beginning to founder and the water carried Kevin away from them. Trying not to cry, Peter and Kate swam through the cold water to find the lifeboat.

 _La Bourgogne_ continued to sink into the Atlantic, all surviving passengers and crew unaware and unconcerned that one little boy was floundering in the ocean on a piece of _Cromartyshire's_ bow, sobbing quietly.

"Mom….Dad…"


	3. Chapter 3

Three days later, when _Cromartyshire_ picked up the 176 survivors of _La Bourgogne_ and brought them to New York Harbor, the McCallister family joined the throng of men, women and children from all over the world who lined up under the "Immigration" sign to be admitted into America. Waiting passengers from other ships chatted and greeted each other in different languages as they huddled together in little family groupings. Clutching bundles, suitcases and handbags of belongings, the only reminders of the lives they had left behind, they looked around with apprehension, wondering what lay ahead for each family in this great new land.

Jeff, in spite of everything that happened around him, the loss of his brother notwithstanding, was amazed to see the island of Manhattan in the distance. Later, he was still expressing his zeal when they left the ship and his feet were in contact with American soil for the first time.

"So this is America," he breathed at the building he was about to enter.

"Technically speaking," corrected Linnie, walking slowly past him. "It's New York."

Once inside the enormous Immigration Hall on Ellis Island, the immigrants were subjected to various examinations such as health inspections and physical tests to see if they were fit to live in America.

When the McCallisters found themselves before the registration desk, the immigration officer wrote their names down.

"How many?" he asked.

Heather gave her family a sad headcount.

"Fourteen including me: six girls, four boys, four parents…and a lost son."

"Okay, next."

The horror of the sinking came back to Peter and Kate, with the thoughts of Kevin presumably drowning still burned within their minds.

"How could we do this?" murmured Kate as she wiped a tear. "We just left him to drown because we were too weak. How are we going to explain this to Rob and Georgette?"

"The truth, I suppose," Peter huddled her. "We have to be strong, like what we tried to do…for Kevin."

"Listen," Uncle Frank consoled them in his own way. "If it makes you feel any better, I lost my reading glasses, my books, my trumpet and several of my best clothes."

"We all lost something in that wreck," Aunt Leslie sighed. She couldn't believe that this jokester was her husband.

The officer then stamped the papers and passed the fourteen remaining members of the McCallister family through the door and into America.

A few hundred miles away off the coast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where an inquiry on the collision was to be held, an officer aboard the Allan Line's _Grecian_ , spotted a piece of wreckage from what could have been a piece of _Cromartyshire's_ damaged hull. As soon as the piece came into full view, he saw a face wearing clothes and a hat that was just waiting to grow into him. It was Kevin McCallister, exhausted, waterlogged and alive. The ship soon came to a stop and a lifeboat was sent out the recover the boy and the piece, intent on taking it back to Halifax as a souvenir.

"Welcome aboard the _Grecian_ , young lad," said the captain of the ship with a heavy heart and an accent to fit his heavy English stature.

Waking up, Kevin looked around the ship. "Are we close to America?" he asked, puzzled.

"Not very," replied the captain. "I am Captain Marley from England, and the closest land is Halifax, which is in Canada. And where is your family might, I ask? Have they drowned or are they still alive?"

Kevin told the captain and the crew all about his family coming to America aboard _La Bourgogne_ , giving a vague description of how she went down and his discovery of the fragment he had used as a raft.

"Even if they are in America, I might never see them again," Kevin sniffed. "America could be such a big place and I would not even know where to begin to look for them."

"You are too young to give up hope," started Captain Marley. "In America there is always hope. In fact, we'll take you there ourselves."

As they turned _Grecian_ back to New York, Captain Marley gave Kevin his own instructions.

"As a word of advice: you must never say never. To get into America, you must go through Immigration. _Everybody_ goes through Immigration. You will get off the ship from there and I am sure you will find your parents. I would escort you there myself, but I have a schedule to keep and a ship to run."

Kevin became hopeful. He thanked Captain Marley, climbed down the gangplank and waved goodbye to the hospitable crew.

"Maybe next time," the captain shouted after him. "I can show you a full circle tour of Liberty Island! Good luck, my new friend!"

Kevin took one final look at the ship and walked off into the Immigration Hall.


	4. Chapter 4

Once outside the Immigration Hall, Peter and Kate took a deep breath as they looked for Uncle Rob, Aunt Georgette and their children, Josh, Liz and Mickey. Heather, glad to be in America at last, hugged her parents and siblings joyfully. They were still in deep sorrow when they told them about Kevin, but Uncle Rob managed to pull the family together and they started off back to the family townhouse on Hester Street.

Meanwhile, about fifty feet away in a low hut, were two men by the name of Harry Lime and Marv Merchants. Harry was a skilled con-artist and a thief who tried to make a profit out of anything he could see fit. Marv was the kind of person who committed fellatio and he even got paid for it, travelling through dozens of brothels that operated male prostitutions fit for a cockmonger and right now he was counting his wages while Harry puffed on a cigar, which greatly annoyed him.

"Could you please put that thing out? It's parching my lips."

Harry's reply was stern.

"Look Marv, you're not the only cocksucker in New York City. There are plenty of 'em who'd use their mouths wisely instead tasting a lifetime supply of milk."

Marv had seen kitchens that were cleaner than their current living conditions.

"Good, because I have had it up to here in this tent. I've even got enough money to buy my own business."

Harry was determined not to let Marv out of his hands.

"Why not we count it and find out."

Marv added the coins from the savings box with his earnings and began with the pennies.

"Five, six, add two, two more, four, eight, nine, five…"

But Harry was getting impatient.

"We've counted at least three times today, Marv. What's the bootle?"

Marv's fingers went up and down in rapid movements.

"So far we have made $99.58. Mr. Beaupre is likely to give us seventeen cents….that would be fifty cents less than yesterday."

Harry was almost at his wit's end at the sound of it.

"Fifty cents?! Marv, you know how I hate to lose money. Now where could we pick up an extra fifty cents?"

The answer came to them shorty, Marv was staring out of the tent door when he caught the sight of Kevin McCallister looking anxiously through the crowds of families. Nowhere could he see hide nor hair of his mother, father, aunt, uncle, sisters, brothers and cousins.

"Look, Harry, a kid. You know, Mr. Beaupre could use an extra kid for fifty cents a day."

Intrigued, Harry stepped out of the tent and introduced himself.

"Harry's the name, Harry Lime. Finding is my game, now what is it that you want to find?"

"My family," said Kevin, craning his neck for any sign of his relatives.

"My partner and I can help you find them," Harry murmured smoothly. "I know exactly where they are."

"Are you sure?" asked Kevin doubtfully. "I was told that they'd be here."

"Have it your way," Harry replied. "But it's like Shakespeare said: 'Opportunity may knock only once, but temptations leans on the doorbell. All you have to do is trust us."

They took Kevin by the arms and led him off.

Before long, Kevin, Harry and Marv arrived at Hester Street via horse-drawn cab. Thousands of people seemed to settle on this busy street and Kevin was fascinated by the teeming activities of selling produce, pushing carts and cooking food as hawkers shouted in thirty languages.

"I'd rather not break a tut if I were you," Harry urged Kevin as he and Marv hauled him through the crowded street. "If you poke around like that you'll get lost."

"I've seen anything so amazing in my entire life," Kevin thought to himself.

But he would have found his family sooner if he found the right tenement by himself that he passed just a second ago.

On the top floor of the McCallister's new home, the expanded family was trying to resume a normal life as if Kevin was somewhere else close by. Georgette, Leslie and Kate sewed a large pile of shirts for the boys while Rob, Frank and Peter tried to paint a picture of Kevin to add his presence and they also tried to cheer the children up by delivering dinner to the table. But Megan and Linnie felt that there was something…hopeful at work outside of the family's common mind.

"Buzz, I have this feeling that Kevin might be still alive," Megan said to her older brother.

"It will go away," Buzz replied, his mind on the outside world.

"And you are not the least bit worried that he could have swam all the way here and now could be looking for us?"

"No. For three reasons. 1, I am not that lucky. 2, we saw him go down with the ship and 3, we are now living on the most boring street in the whole part of America where nothing even remotely dangerous will ever happen. Period."

Rod, Sondra and Jeff looked at them, quietly humming a mournful tune of "Somewhere in my Memory". A dull mournfulness filled the souls of all the children, but the rest of the room was humming as well, keeping Kevin's spirit alive.

But Buzz was wrong, of course, for his very much alive brother was being ushered into a room that he had never seen before. Harry and Marv had stopped him under a sign which read "Sweatshop".

"What is a sweatshop?" asked the curious Kevin.

"You'll see," Marv grinned.

The room, lit by kerosene lanterns was enough to expose Kevin to the dozens of children, women and men who were hard at work making clothes. Sewing machines clattered and squeaked and some were trying their best at ironing the garments as the room grew hotter and hotter. It caused the workers to cough as a puff of steam flew by from an oven.

Harry and Marv made the transaction between themselves and the owner Petir Beaupre quick and hasty as the man handed over a bag containing the fifty cents they desired.

"Don't thank us," Marv said as they brought Kevin over to him. "Just send us his salary."

"Where's my family?" asked Kevin, standing on tiptoe. "I don't see them anywhere."

"You don't need a family, kid. You just got promoted to getting a job. And if you get the chance be sure to send me my salary, 'kay?"

Marv furrowed his brow at this.

"You mean _our_ salary?"

Harry just dragged him out the door and closed it behind him.

Kevin felt miserable and foolishly incompetent as he turned back over to his new boss.

"You're mine now. So get to work!"


	5. Chapter 5

For two days and two nights, Kevin tried to work his hardest, but it was nothing compared to the chores he did back home in Ireland, which were tame. This so-called "laundry service" was enough to damper any hope of his fellow "workers" from getting out.

On his third day in the sweatshop, Kevin had accidently bumped into another boy with black hair who seemed to be carrying the same amount of suits as he was: fifteen. Digging their way out of the colorful clothes, the two boys laid their eyes on each other for the first time.

"Sorry for that. I was a Londoner meself before I came here on the wrong boat. Alex Pruitt's the name, what's yours?"

Kevin shook his hand with him.

"Kevin McCallister. I've only been to London once, and I came from Ireland not too long ago."

"Kevin?" winced Alex. "That doesn't sound very Irish to me. But it does sound American."

Kevin was surprised by the fact that he had learned at least two horrible things that could only happen in America, getting locked into a room full of slaves and the possibility of having one's name changed. It was more than he could understand, but when in America do as the Americans do.

"So are you living here by yourself?" Alex asked him.

"I came here with my family, but my boat sank and now I'm looking for them."

"You and me both."

Alex had a big heart, and his liking towards Kevin took off to a new height, but the others had already accepted their fate.

"I's don't have da courage ta get outta here," said a dark skinned woman.

"And nobody will," an Asian male added sadly.

"Maybe if we all worked together, we just break the door down," said Kevin looking out at the door.

Perhaps working together seemed like an exceptional idea, as none of them had ever thought about it before due to their state of misery. They all whispered together in a circle and exchanged details that were far from Mr. Beaupre's hearing range. When the man in question returned, he was confused for a short while before he shouted.

"Get back to work!"

Slowly, the workers turned in slow response to their soon-to-be-ex-employer, their faces baring the fires and forges of a rebellion. The dark skinned woman was holding a noose that had been saving for a previous escape attempt and flung it at Beaupre's neck, causing him to choke as three strong men jumped on him, delivering punches and stomps and would put him out of operation for seven weeks. Then with the help of Alex and Kevin they used a long table to break the door down. The table skid out into the street, followed by the cries of freedom, the former slaves, Kevin and Alex included, never taking at least one look back to the former "home".

Kevin and Alex were the last to leave, taking deep breaths as they hid in an alleyway, should Beaupre make a quick recovery from his injuries.

"You know," said Alex taking his right arm around Kevin's. "I have gotten along quite fine without me family. I'll help you look for yours in return for our freedom."

"That would be wonderful," breathed Kevin. "But I don't know where to start."

"Well, we would start by taking the road down there."

Starting off from pointing in the opposite direction of the alleyway, Kevin and Alex searched the boroughs and neighborhoods for the McCallisters. On the second day of the search, Kevin spotted one family calling for his name, which belonged to someone else. This discouraged him a lot more than his need for food or sleep, which he greatly needed.

The following day, Kevin heard the song of a sweet violin floating down from the penthouse of an upper class family. His ears perked up.

"Dad!"

He ran across the street, scampered up the steps and knocked on the door, shouting.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!"

The following reply was quick. His hands retracted from the door opening to reveal it being open by a young and well-dressed girl resembling Heather.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for my family. Does a Peter McCallister live here? I'm certain that's his violin. My Uncle Frank plays the trumpet-"

"I am afraid we don't have anyone here by that name," the young lady told him. "But you have my pity."

And with that she closed the door.

Meeting up with Alex, they turned a corner and then there was a large assembly going on before a large wooden stage. Two siblings named Baxter, Finn and Alexis, had lost their parents from years ago during a robbery in Glasgow and had taken this moment to move to America on their own. The duo were becoming the fast leaders of an increasingly outspoken movement against crime. Behind them, hung a sign reading "Crime is Unfair" in red letters.

Alex saw Alexis as something of an attraction as she and her brother spoke out before the assembly.

"Don't be afraid!" the girl shouted. "Are you going to stand and let some low-lives push you around?"

"This is America!" added the boy. "We have free speech! You can even say shit here! Hell, you can say it as much as you want to!"

"You're not helping!" Alexis protested quietly.

Alex began to walk closer and closer to Alexis as the crowd grew upset.

"And if we all get together," Alexis went on. "We can do something about these increasing criminals!"

Kevin bluffed it off at first, but then he remembered his time in the sweatshop.

"There are criminals here," he said to himself. "And wait until I tell Dad and Mom once I find them."

It took him at least two seconds to notice that Alex had gotten himself to the stage and found himself face-to-face with Alexis Baxter, who just blushed at his innocent charm.

"So," she startled. "If we all got together, would do something about…"

"Criminals?" Alex finished for her.

Finn could care less about his sister's love life and more about they actually came to America for. When he turned back to the crowd, some of them had left and there in the center was Kevin walking up to them.

"Is he with you?" Finn asked his sister who had been drawn from a smooch with the lovely eyed Alex.

Alex looked back over to Kevin.

"This is Kevin, he's been looking for his family. We've looked for blocks around, but no luck."

"Wait a minute!" cried Alexis, remembering her mission. "Boss Tweed at Tammany Hall. He knows everybody in the city, and I'm sure he'll know where you family is."

"You are the most wonderful person I have ever met in my whole life," Alex breathed as he took Alexis' right hand.

"Save it for later," Finn shook his head. "We'd better get goin'."

As the party of four hurried off to Tammany Hall, the McCallisters were in the marketplace having witnessed a man forcefully removing an apple from a female customer who looked poor and hungry. The criminal was able to subdue the policeman who knocked him out with a single blow to the chin and run off, injustice having been committed.

"Well, Mister 'There-are-no-whats-in-America?" asked Kate, crossing her arms. "What have you got to say now?"

"Bandits," Peter muttered, and he raised his eyes to the heavens, hoping he would be spared of punishment.


	6. Chapter 6

"Boss" William Tweed had lived in New York for almost forty years and had risen to the position of a considerable political power and patronage within the immigration community. Given his looks and his accent, Kevin could have almost mistaken him for an Irishman. He was mostly present at weddings, christenings, funerals and political meetings. It was at the wake of an Irish activist who had died in the recent attack in Tammany Hall where Kevin, Alex, Alexis and Finn found him.

He was dressed in a black cutaway suit, sporting a shiny black top hat and matching necktie as he glanced at his gold pocketwatch in his left hand, while his right held a glass of red wine.

"Today is my third wake and I am not even finished yet."

A police chief standing next to Boss Tweed intoned.

"We have got to do something about these criminals. They keep slipping out of our grasps."

Boss Tweed nodded at this.

"Anything that is better than paying their bosses for protection."

Then the door swung open to reveal a woman of high estate standing in a haughty postion.

"Hello, Tweed," said the woman.

The others turned their heads at her.

"It's Hetty Green!" Alex whispered. "The richest and most powerful lady in New York. What's she doing slumming in this part of town?"

Henrietta Howland Green had been born and raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts some years before and came to New York to keep the city's economy balanced on a stable level with the money she had inherited from her family, who were whalers. A public-spirited miser known as "The Witch of Wall Street", she was well-known for having contributed certain amounts of money to charities, museums, libraries, theaters, hospitals, offices, workhouses and parks.

"Good to see you at this Irish custom, Hetty," Boss Tweed bowed in respect. "Those criminals got him today."

"Which is precisely why I am here," Mrs. Green dabbed her eyes with a hankerchief. "Those criminals are killing everywhere! They don't even care about the destruction they have brought upon the rich and the poor. As such in these events, I have dedicated my husband to helping those less fortunate than myself. So to provide a reasonable course of action, we must have a rally."

"A rally, you say?" Boss Tweed asked after taking another swig of the wine.

"Yes! A rally," Mrs. Green repeated. "Tomorrow morning at Central Park. My family and I will bring the updown folks while you bring the locals from downtown."

Then she went over to the victim's older sister.

"Here," she said, handing her five dollars. "Buy a coffin so you can bury him. I may be a miser as some of you think me as, but even I have my standards."

And she gathered her black shawl and swept out the door.

The room started buzzing about the upcoming rally and how they would try to convince their friends and relatives to attend. Alexis was excited out of all the people in the room.

"Finally!" she told the boys. "A chance to do something about those criminals!"

Kevin tapped her right shoulder.

"What about the chances of finding my family?" he asked.

Alexis looked at Kevin apologetically.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Kevin. Here, let me take you to Boss Tweed."

And they walked across the room to the man in question, with Alexis asking.

"By any chance, do you know the McCallisters?"

Boss Tweed looked at Kevin doubtfully.

"Are they registered to vote?"

"According to Kevin," replied Alexis. "Their ship sank and they took another one to get here. They could have just gotten off the boat for all I know."

"Then I don't know then yet."

Boss Tweed shook his head and turned away. Kevin sighed as another chance of hope had been dashed to pieces. Finn and Alex came over to them, already knowing about the bad news from their vantage point.

"How about you stay with us at our place?" asked Finn, putting his hands on Kevin's shoulders.

Alexis and Finn took Alex and Kevin to their apartment which was located under a water tower in a townhouse not too far from Hester Street. Kevin was to sleep by the window while Alex and Finn would share the top and bottom parts of a bunk bed as Alexis had her own bed on the opposite side. Before she went to sleep however, Kevin noticed a photograph of a couple in their Sunday best on the bedside table and asked Alexis.

"Who are they?"

Alexis stared at the photograph and sighed a lost memory to Kevin.

"Those are our parents. Some criminals shot them two years ago in November during a robbery. But I know that yours are out there somewhere. Now get some sleep, we have a big day ahead of us."

As soon as Alexis went to bed, Kevin looked out the window, staring at the moon and wondering where in the enourmous darkened city his family might be.

At the same time, in Uncle Rob's tennant on Hester Street, Megan and Linnie were also looking out of the window, thinking about Kevin. Peter and Frank slowly played their instruments before they themselves fell asleep.

"I just know Kevin's alive," Megan whispered, half to Linnie and half to the moon.

Both of them were hoping, that somehow, somewhere out there, Kevin would hear.


	7. Chapter 7

By 8:23, a crowd of one hundred turned out for the rally at Central Park. Persons of almost every nationality and religion, regardless of weight and skin color, showed up, united by fear and hatred of the mob gangs.

"Attention please!" shouted Mrs. Green into a large megaphone. "You all know why we are here. I am very gratified by this outpouring and it is very clear that something must be done about the criminal underworld!"

A man from Russia, plagued by nervousness, called out.

"Not so loud! They may kill you!"

"So let them hear me," Mrs. Green did not care one bit.

"You can talk!" shouted a woman in a flowery hat. "You're the Witch of Wall Street!"

"True," Mrs. Green began to say. "But we must also fight for our freedom! Why else did they build that statue? For _freedom!_ "

"FREEDOM!" the audience agreed.

"Right! Freedom from mobs and criminals! And if we all work together, we can do it! So what are we going to do about these criminals?!"

"I say we fight!" yelled a man in yellow.

"Or we can frighten them away!" called the voice of Kevin standing close to the podium.

He whispered a pair of inaudible words into Mrs. Green's right ear and she chuckled with inspiration.

"What did he say?" asked her husband.

The words were immediately passed down to their children and everyone that was present on the stage seemed excited. A minute passed and Mrs. Green stepped back to address the multitude.

"This will take the co-operation of everybody, but we have a plan!"

Kevin was met a kiss and a pat on the back from Alexis, Alex and Finn, and he would have been reunited with his family then and there…if it hadn't been for the lady in the flowery hat obstructing the view of Megan and Linnie.

"Oh, Dad, she's in the way again."

Linnie's complaint was far from the family's concern, for at seven o'clock that night, the participants selected a run-down waterfront structure at the very end of Chelsea Piers and were working for the next seven days, each one having an assignment. They built tall barricades out of wooden boards while others used bird feathers and pillow feathers and even clipped off trimmings of their own hair to be added onto the textiles. Kevin and the others worked long and hard sewing pieces of cloth together into a giant quilt of raven black.

As everybody else worked hard with energy and dedication, Mrs. Green and her family stood proudly on top of the workers and shouted words of encouragement into the tireless workers.

"We are very proud with all of you! Those criminals will not see it coming!"

Two nights later, as Kevin was getting dress after taking a bath, he heard a plaintive sound. Once his shirt was on, he listened and caught his breath…the sound of a violin echoing through the walls. He scampered outside of the building.

"Dad?" he whispered.

His ears catching the sounds of the violin, Kevin started along the street and followed it. He went around the corner, through an alley, and into a gutter. Peeking through the window where the violin had pulled him in at last, he took a shot glance at a sign that read "Mott Street Maulers".

It was clear to him, that the four men playing cards on the round table were the criminals that Mrs. Green had targeted. He placed his right ear against the window, listening to the conversations.

"Gus, for the hundredth time, we are playing poker."

"I know that, but how can I concentrate with this music?"

"Well, Gus, when the boss plays, it is culture."

Looking for whoever the boss may be, Kevin crawled under the window and searched the room. The violin's music was coming from Harry Lime, with Marv Merchants holding his head in concentration.

"If music be the food of love, play on McDuff."

"I don't know which is worse, Harry. Sucking somebody's dick dry in one breath or your music."

"This violin's outta tune, Marv. It's the song that makes it better."

Harry took one look to admire his gold tooth in the mirror…and caught Kevin's reflection.

"Surprise, morons. I'll bet you saw the last of me. And I have a lot to say to you about leaving me with that bad guy."

Instead of just simply jumping into the fray, Harry turned back to his cronies and smiled calmly.

"Gentlemen, cat's out of the bag. GET ME THAT KID!"

All four of the poker-playing men leapt out of their chairs and sped after Kevin as he rushed to the door, but it wasn't long before he was pulled back into the hands of captivity.


	8. Chapter 8

Standing on top of the barricaded wall alongside her husband and children, Mrs. Green reviewed the plan for the tenth time to the leaders of her criminal prevention forces. She pointed to a two-funneled liner, the Canadian Pacific Steamship _Empress of China_ , which was docked at the end of the pier.

"Now, there is the ship. The ship whistle blows at six o'clock in the morning and that is when we release the secret weapon. Once the criminals have been scared half-to-death, we trap them into that large crate and the crewmen will put it onto the ship. Is that clear?"

The men and women nodded with enthusiasm.

"All right then, get some sleep," Mrs. Green finished. "We have a _long_ day ahead of us."

Back in the bandits' headquarters, Kevin was locked into an eight foot by ten foot cage with bars that were too small for him to crawl through. He was guarded by a fat man with a cross for a pendant.

"My name is Gus Polinski, poker king of Mott Street!" he snarled. "I warn you not to make any funny moves or you're gonna regret it!"

But seeing Kevin's heart break into a river of tears melted his own.

"Was it something I said? What are you crying about?"

"I lost my family while escaping a sinking ship and I might never see them again now that I am locked in here!" blubbered Kevin.

"I lost my family too!" Gus began to show some tears as well. "Eight brothers, ten sisters and two parents."

"That's almost as big as mine!" Kevin exclaimed. "Maybe you can find them if you tried."

Kevin could not believe what he was saying, but Gus seemed to believe him.

"I suppose I could. Do you like me? I like kids, they're very cute. Also, I'm Polish and I'm a vegetarian."

"That's nice to hear."

"Now, how about I get you out of here so we can look for your family together?"

As Gus took out his keys, he looked both ways and quietly muttered his confessions.

"I never liked them anyway, I just got into their gang for money and they can be a bunch of assholes at times."

But when he did—

"HARRY, HE'S ESCAPING!"

Marv had woken up from the sound of the cage being open and immediately panicked. Kevin was out of the cage and racing to the door.

"Gus, how did he get out?" Marv asked in a frenzy.

"He overpowered me!" Gus lied.

"Marv, the rest of youse, after him!" shouted Harry before going to the turncoat. "As for you, motherfucker, you're fired!"

Gus gave Harry a hard slap before racing out the door in a different direction.

"I never liked you anyway!" he shouted back. "And besides, your music stinks!"

Kevin was closely pursued by the other members of the gang, running all the way back to the pier.

Above him from the barricade, Hetty Green heard Kevin shouting "Wake up! The bandits are here!" and snapped into action before checking her watch.

"My God, they are early! Wake up!"

She shook her husband furiously and clapped her hands violently to wake up her children as well as the other kids.

"Keep them busy! We must keep them at bay when the ship blows at six."

The workers danced around in reciprocation with Hetty's shouts. They were about to pelt them with bricks when Harry and Marv stepped in front.

"Well, am I to suppose that you are the ringleaders of this scheme?" asked Mrs. Green.

"Yes!" Kevin told her. "They put me and Alex in a sweatshop and he's also their boss!"

"Pay no attention to that little guy!" called Harry. "Just thrown down your money and your jewelry and maybe, just maybe, we can leave you alone!"

The workers were further enticed, but it was Alex who threw a brick that Harry sidestepped out of the way from and struck Marv's chest. He fell down hard.

"So what's with him?" Harry questioned soothingly. "He deserved it."

"So did you," Kevin mumbled and he grabbed a brick, throwing it hard enough to bring a limp onto Harry's right leg.

"You are through!" taunted Hetty Green. "Washed up and bound to be chained before the righteous hammer of justice!"

But Marv had once last trump card left as he recovered to his feet. He took out a long wooden match, struck it on his teeth and set fire to the bottom of the wooden wall.

The fire spread rapidly through the barricade, but at that moment, _Empress of China_ was blowing her whistle with an enormous reverberating blast.

"Release...the secret…weapon!"

Hetty's words left her mouth as the clock struck six. The battalions took their positions and removed the chains that held the secret weapon from breaking loose. They pulled on heavy ropes, pushed a lever that send the machine rolling down the ramp. A rumbling ambience filled the shed as the machine rolled into the wall. There was a tremendous crash and the secret weapon came hurtling through the wall. The force of the wall being smashed into smithereens and the debris pushed Kevin back into the alley toward a man-made creek.

"Get a loud of that! It's a giant bird-spider!" yelled Harry.

"You're right!" screamed Marv.

Peter McCallister's fairy tale was becoming a reality. The gigantic tarantula was at least twenty feet tall and it's raven wings were 17 feet long. It's skin was a patchwork of pieces of hair and cotton sewn into place. A raven's beak stuck out of the four round eyes with menacing pincers. The eight legs and the wings were operated by hand while the bottom of the grotesque creature was placed on a platform made of seven pushcarts nailed together, going faster and faster at the bandits.

With Marv screaming in a high-pitch all the way, they ran through the barricades down the piers to escape the monster.

At the end of the dock where the barricades had taken them, _Empress of China_ blew her whistle once more as her crew rushed to load the last crates and bring them aboard. The bandits came to the end and had no where else to go other than cower in the crate that the workers had intended to trap them in. The spider-bird grew nearer and nearer, then two of it's crew jumped out and lock them in before they even had a chance to get out.

The crate was soundproof and none of the crewmembers were able to hear their shanghaied passengers until it was too late. The bird-spider stopped just before the edge of the pier and the workers jumped out to see their victory.

When Harry and Marv found out about their destination, which was hours later, he assured his comrades that there would plenty of places to loot in China.

"Looks like I have to brush up on my Chinese," Marv contemplated, and he began to count mentally in his head.

Back in Chelsea, the fire department arrived to put out the fire that Marv had set. Alex, Alexis and Finn ran through the confusion to find Kevin.

"Kevin! Kevin McCallister!?"

"Alex, look!" cried Alexis. "Kevin's hat!"

Picking it up, they renewed their search when the McCallisters came running by.

"Did I hear you call for a Kevin McCallister?" asked Megan. "He's our brother."

"That's his name," Alex nodded.

"An obvious coincidence of false hope," said Peter. "There could be a hundred Kevin McCallisters in New York, maybe thousands! That doesn't mean he's _our_ Kevin, it could still be _another_ Kevin McCallister—"

"No, Peter," said Kate with sharp eyes. "They have his hat."

Peter snatched the hat from Alex and gave it a big hug.

"My son is alive after all!" He said with joy.

"So that means you are the McCallisters!" said Finn. "Kevin was looking for you."

"Where is he?" Georgette said with excitement. "Is our nephew all right?"

"The problem is…" Alex admitted the bad news. "He's gone again."

"And that is why we were calling him," added Alexis. "We have been looking for him for over thirty minutes."

"Then we should all look for him," Uncle Rob told the others.

As the family called for Kevin. Gus Polinski, his savior, watched from the shadows. Perhaps he could help them somehow.


	9. Chapter 9

When Kevin woke up in a large open alley, he shook himself off several strands of hay and looked around. There were kids of all ages living in shacks made of cardboard, straw, boxes and even rudimentary shaped blankets.

"Are you a new arrival?" asked a young boy sitting crisscrossed under a blanket.

"Not really," Kevin explained. "I was just looking for my family."

"Wouldn't that have been lovely," the boy sighed in despair. "I stopped looking for mine a long time ago. In a city this size, you might as well forget about them. They found you and I most certainly doubt that you will ever be able to find them. So the only place you will have to call home is here with me in Orphan Alley."

"Maybe you are right," Kevin began to embrace the boy's pessimism. "They don't care. If they did, they would have found me."

In frustration, he threw some straw together, making a fundamental bed and then he lied down in it.

"I'll never be able to leave this place, or see my family again…this is my home now."

Kevin let his tears flow at the moment his ears heard the music of a violin. His sadness being increased by the memories of his previous life in Ireland. But then, hope was immediately filling his spirit.

"Did you hear that violin?"

"Yes," the pessimistic kid told him. "There are plenty of people who play it almost every day."

"Except this is one violin that only I know!"

And he raced out into the street, trying to find the source of the music. At the far, he could see Gus Polinski striding along with the McCallisters, Alex, Alexis, Finn and Hetty Green. Peter was playing his violin as loudly as he could.

"Dad! Dad, it's me!"

Everything stopped in a grand moment of time. Kate and Peter turned around and ran into the middle of the street. Kevin ran to them and the all three were reunited in a hug of cries and clutches, followed by Aunt Leslie, Uncle Frank, Uncle Rob, Aunt Georgette and the all the children. Alex and Alexis danced for joy while Finn smiled without even realizing it, Mrs. Green was hugging Gus as well.

"What has come over me?" she cried to no one in particular. "I am hugging a Pole!"

Peter was overwhelmed with happiness.

"My Kevin, I thought we'd never see you again."

"Never say never, Dad."

They all laughed at Kevin's words and Kate even got to place it on Kevin's head.

"Now you are truly a man!" she smiled.

About a month later, Captain Marley visited the McCallisters for a special tour around the harbor.

"I understand you have found your family," he said. "Perhaps as a special occasion, you are all free to see Lady Liberty herself on my personal ferry."

Kevin, his siblings and his cousins got to ride the top deck of the ferry while the adults took the bottom. They circled around the Hudson River and headed straight to the magnificent statue that stood proudly in the harbor. Then Kevin pointed to the horizon far in the west.

"What's that over there?"

"That is more of America," Captain Marley said with pride.

"Can we go see it?" asked Fuller.

"Someday you will! All of you!"

Life in America was all the McCallister family thought it would ever be and much, much more.


End file.
